Multimedia objects are crucial for material understanding. By incorporating theories and principles into various interactive elements, students are able to understand the material at all capacities and levels. It is important to include multimedia design and objects in lessons so that no student feels left behind. As an educator, I feel it is my responsibility to pave a path for diverse and inclusive learning, and using multimedia is a fantastic way to ensure the content is delivered to and understood by each of my students.

I have chosen to upgrade the infographic from my week 5 blog post, linked here.

I chose this object for my project because I got some key feedback from Professor Watt about paying attention to principles and making better connections to them, and I would like to develop it further. This project is a great opportunity to improve this infographic to be something I can be proud of and would use in a classroom setting. On the upgraded infographic, I focussed on developing the following:

  • Creating a more interactive activity that is better suited to the classroom environment.
  • Visualizing how the infographic would sound if someone were to present it in class.
  • Reducing cognitive load.
  • Improving the design and feel.
  • Creating a story and staying direct.
Infographic VoiceoverDownload

In this new infographic, I feel that the elements of interactive design are much clearer. I decided to focus more on contrasting colours, and a consistent background to decrease distraction. I changed the wording to create more of a “timeline” and “storytelling” feel and I also increased the font to limit extraneous cognitive load while making it more legible. I reduced the amount of text to complement Mayer’s Principles such as coherence and spatial contiguity. To make the object more accessible, I recorded and attached a voiceover of the infographic content. The voiceover makes the infographic more inclusive of students who may struggle with visual objects. I kept the layout the same, as I think that having an alternating feel is more engaging, and most of the copy is the same as the previous version.